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Is the geomerty of a track bike a lot different than the geometry of a road bike (standard geometry, not compact)? In other words, could I strip everything off an old beater road bike, change the drive train to fixed gear, and use that, or do I need to buy a whole new track bike.

There is quite a difference in handling. A trackbike has very steep angles and therefor handles very nervous on the road but on the banks of the velodrome you need this. The velodrome where I used to ride didn't allow fixed roadbikes because they where afraid of people crashing etc. not really sury why they would, but they didn't allow it.
If you only plan on doing some training on the track and they will allow you to ride your bike then it's a cheap way of starting and if it doesn't turn out you could allways go and buy a trackbike When you go this way make sure you have a lockring on your rearwheel, the forces on the cog are pretty big and you don't want to have the cog unwind itself!

Nikh, do you ride your fixie on the street? I build a fixie last year and had great fun both building it and riding it. (nothing ww though )

As Boonen stated, the angkes are much steeper (74-75^O) for both head and seat angles are not unusual. There is minimal offset in the forks, which combined with short chainstays gives a very short wheelbase.

Boonen wrote:The velodrome where I used to ride didn't allow fixed roadbikes because they where afraid of people crashing etc. not really sury why they would, but they didn't allow it.

Track bikes have higher BBs than road bikes and converted road bikes can have their pedals strike the banking causing a fall. In my IP bike I cant ride it on a banked track at under 35-40km/h. The BB is very low and I strike the pedal if I ride too slow.

Boonen wrote:When you go this way make sure you have a lockring on your rearwheel, the forces on the cog are pretty big and you don't want to have the cog unwind itself!

I have only had a cog unwind once (never use a lock ring) and it was when I was riding the track bike on the road and I was hopping the wheel backwards to slow me down on a hill. I just do a standing start on it as soon as its on.

I had a cog unscrewing doing a lot of skid-braking I ride with an old record screw on hub and some locktite so maybe if it is good enough for the road it would be good enough for the track as well The low bb sounds logical, it would depend on the track you ride on if you can use the bike.